Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-08-23
EXPLAINING THINGS.
" COMES HIGH, BUT Is VERY LEGI.
INNATE SOMETIMES.

Huntington Relieves Himself on the Pa
cifc Railway ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS serv-
Ices of Men Who We're Taken to the
| National Capital to EnlIghten the States
men on Pacific Railway Matters.
New York, Aug. % Mr. c. r. Hunting
ton, Of the Central Pacific railroad, was
| asked Monday. for his opinion On the pro-
ceedings of the Pacific railroad investigating
committee He replied with some heat: Il
| think the investigation Is taking the mixed
form of farce and an outrage Chairman
Pattison has poked into private affairs with
out any sanction Of law and Justice, and the
whole business is likely TO end in making the
commission a subject for contempt and
| laughter"
an what way has the commission exceeded
| its powers by modelling with private affairs
was asked
swell, in the first place, it had no right to
| demand private correspondence between my
self and my agent"
$40 you object TO letting the publicsee tina,
correspondence
a do, on the principle that mans private
| letters are private property. There is not a
| word in those Cotton letters, however, which
should I've ashamed Of having proclaimed
| from the housetops They are purely bust
ness letters, with no suggestion of corrup
| ton or shady methods In them, and no one
can honestly interpret single sentence ot
their contents to my discredit or to the dis
| credit of any one connected with the Pacific
ROAD "
"Will You explain what Won meant by
| writing TO Cotton to uss certain amounts in
| explaining Pacific raad matters to members
| Of congressl"
"Why, thas is all right Nnna hut an evil
mind could extract wrong from thoss words
| I had no idea of corrupting members Of con
greSs or having a penny expended in other
than lawful way. This is what | meant by
| explaining to members You know that
many members of congress, especially west
ern men, are very much preju'licei against
the Pacific roads. Well, in many cases it is
useless to argue with those men, OF try tic
show them how the country has been bene-
| flied by the roads, so we had TO appeal TO in
| fluential constituents and induce them TO go to
Washington TO talk with their representatives,
| We have never bribed any constituent to dc
this, but it takes great deal of money tc
| pay their expenses to and from Washing
ton, and pay them for the loss OF
time incurred in preventing unjust con
| gressional attacks upon us ! remembe,
/ some instances where we had to expend a,
much as S., 900 OF 81, 900 to pay mans ex
penses to Washington and reimburse him for
loss of time When it is remembered how
constantly the Pacific roals are sttarkel IL
congress, and how much explaining is re
quired, you will not be surprised that th'
books of the company record large expeudi
lures for which there are no substantial ne
turns But this is not bribery"
"And what is meant by the record in ths
books of millions given out for legal Ell
pensesF"
Those legal expenses are in part money
expended for the purpose | have Just ex
planned, and partly for what is commonly
known as legal expenses. The services of {
great many lawyers and agents are required
and We have made it point tn employ only
the best legal talent AMI the best agents anC
they come high, / tell you If we hal
| thought that any outsiders were going tn pry
into our busine might have kept n
itemizei account of every dollar eypende,
Tor explaining and for legal expenses am
am sure that no investigating commits
could have traced dollar 10 nh illegi,imIat,
| ami